Page 10 of Wrong Number

“So many women won’t go anywhere unless they have an address, and an itinerary. They have to know what to wear, and how to be. You let yourself go with the flow. You have no idea how refreshing that is,” he smiled.

I carefully swallowed the thought that perhaps he had the misfortune to date uptight, fussy women.

“I know that it’s getting late and I should walk you home, but I don’t want tonight to end,” he said gently, grazing his lips against mine softly.

“Tomorrow’s Sunday,” I said. “I don’t have to be up at any particular time.”

Tyler’s eyes blazed. “Are you suggesting that we go to my place and watch movies?”

“Oh,” I stammered, “I was thinking maybe we could go

to another lounge or something, but…sure.”

“Sweetheart,” he said, rocking me slightly, “I’m not asking for anything. I don’t expect anything. I know it’s way too soon to be thinking about getting naked, okay?”

Exhaling harder than I had intended, I nodded against his shoulder. “Thank you for understanding.”

He took my hand and we began walking toward his house. “Tana, I don’t want you to ever be uncomfortable around me. If you don’t want to do something, or if you want to change anything, just tell me. Let’s be super honest with each other. It makes everything so much easier.”

“Deal,” I said.

I heard a strange buzzing noise, and for half a second thought it was a wasp until Tyler took his phone out of his pocket to see who was calling. “Tana, I’m so sorry, I have to take this.”

“Sure, no problem.”

Even with the noise of the bars and clubs along the way, I couldn’t help but hear most of his conversation. It was obviously his uncle, who was concerned about possibly losing a couple of job pitches next week.

“I’ll go over everything when I’m in the office Monday, and straighten everything out,” Tyler said. “Please don’t worry about it. I’ll go meet with them in person if I have to. And honestly, if we got all three contracts, we’d probably have to hire extra people, and I know how much you hate hiring,” he chuckled.

He ended the call quickly, and he put away the phone as we turned onto his street. “I’m so sorry about that,” he said. “Uncle John only calls outside of work hours if it’s really important.”

“It’s fine,” I said. “It’s a shame that you’re having stress on the weekend though.”

He shook his head, growling deep in his throat while making an absolutely insane face, making me laugh. “It’s the head jerk at Wright Construction,” he said. “If they’d just stay in their own lane, and stick to their own jobs, everything would be fine. But once a year or so, the owner swoops in and starts making pathetically low bids for jobs that he could barely handle just so that we’re forced to lower our pricing for a few clients.”

A shiver ran through me. It was not from the crisp night air.

“That’s crazy,” I said, trying to make my voice sound calm. “Why would they bother?”

Tyler led me into his beautiful house, and we kicked off our shoes. “Rumor has it that he treats his employees like garbage, so the ones who have any decent skills are picked up by other carpenters and contractors around the city. His twisted mind sees that as some sort of treason, so he takes it out on other companies whenever he’s in the mood.”

Tyler shook his head sadly. “I’ve heard that he’s a heavy drinker, so maybe he’s gone off the deep end. Who knows.”

All negative thoughts instantly disappeared as he swept me into a gigantic movie star kiss, draping me over his arm, melting every part of me down to my toes. I loved how he felt so hungry for me, but without being the slightest bit pushy.

“Would you like a less fancy cocktail?” he asked, straightening me up. “Glass of wine? Hot chocolate?”

“Hot chocolate with just a tiny bit of Kahlúa in it?” I asked. “You know, for flavor balance.”

“Stanley was right. You’re a creative genius.”

Tyler sat me on the couch, refusing to let me help. As I looked around his living room, I couldn’t believe what a fun little adventure tonight had been.

The only dark spot had been the mention of Wright Construction. There was no way I could tell Tyler that the drunk jerk who was causing trouble for his business was also my father.

He’d taken off when I was around five, so my mother raised me alone, and after feeling utterly abandoned for a while, I tried to forget all about him. I rarely saw him, hadn’t done so in nearly a year, and I certainly had nothing to do with his business affairs. But still. I felt horrible not confessing, even though I hadn’t done anything wrong.

Thank goodness that Wright was a very common last name. There was really no reason for it to ever come up.

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